A cancer is a group of cells that has lost its normal control mechanisms resulting in unregulated growth. Cancerous cells are also called malignant cells and can develop from any tissue within any organ. As cancerous cells grow and multiply, they form a tumour that invades and destroys normal adjacent tissues. Cancerous cells from the primary site can also spread throughout the body.
One of the major treatments for cancer is chemotherapy which involves the use of drugs to destroy cancer cells. Chemotherapeutic drugs kill cancer cells by damaging the cellular DNA and are divided into drugs classes including but not limited to DNA cross-linkers, platinum complexes and antimetabolites. The choice, combination and dosage of chemotherapeutic drugs used depend on the type of cancer being treated. Unfortunately, not all cancers respond to chemotherapy and drug resistance to chemotherapy can also develop. It is known that different cancers employ a wide variety of mechanisms to elicit resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs. However, the factors that regulate tumour response to chemotherapy remain obscure.
There is therefore a need to provide an alternative therapy for treating cancer that overcomes, or at least ameliorates, one or more of the disadvantages described above.